Although the plan sounded simple, putting it into action was far from easy.
The primary problem facing Ji Ting was those Mutated Creatures.
“Mutated Creatures are everywhere across the post-apocalyptic wasteland, extremely aggressive toward humans.
Depending on their evolutionary path, they’re divided into small and large Mutated Creatures.
Small Mutated Creatures usually appear in packs, are agile, and have developed special attack methods—like the two Big Jaws you encountered earlier.
Large Mutated Creatures tend to be solitary, massive in size, and incredibly deadly.”
The PPT on the projector switched to the next slide, showing a direct excerpt from relevant materials.
“You were lucky. Their attack patterns are relatively simple. They usually appear in groups of five to ten. You only encountered two because the fusion between the novel and reality wasn’t strong enough at the time to manifest so many Mutated Creatures simultaneously.”
Ji Ting put down the tablet and looked at Liu Xuanjin—his theory instructor, the brains behind the Tianshu Squad, responsible for supplementing his theoretical knowledge.
“Why do I feel like my luck is terrible? If I were lucky, I wouldn’t have run headlong into those two Big Jaws.”
Moreover, the news about “suspected Mutated Creature sightings in the outskirts of A City” was a bait fabricated by Li Yishu’s team.
Logically, there shouldn’t have been any Mutated Creatures there.
The theory lesson was brief; the real focus was the upcoming physical training.
Aside from dull stamina exercises, it included shooting, combat, target practice, judo, wrestling, and other fighting techniques.
According to Li Yishu, these were to strengthen Ji Ting’s self-defense abilities.
Expecting to kill Mutated Creatures with these techniques was pure fantasy—Mutated Creatures were not something you could take down with hand-to-hand combat.
The real key was heavy weaponry directly laid at their feet.
Under this intense schedule, Ji Ting personally experienced the limits of his body.
After training, he closed his eyes, having no idea how he made it back to the dormitory, let alone keeping up with external developments.
Until the latest news arrived, breaking the calm.
Ji Ting: “A city?”
“That city appeared on the outskirts of A City. Its shape is more like a fully enclosed fortress.
Drones were interfered with by unknown frequencies emitted from inside, so we have limited information.
But combining this with the novel’s original text, our preliminary judgment is that this is very likely Liu Daming’s ‘golden finger,’ the so-called base.”
Ji Ting took the tablet, swiftly scrolling through several images—external shots of the city from multiple angles, enough to piece together its appearance.
Tall walls surrounded the entire city.
A dense, impenetrable black barrier extended from the walls, covering the whole city like a turtle shell dome, preventing anyone from seeing inside.
Every few meters along the walls, a cannon slowly rotated, with a firing range covering both sky and land, turning the city into a spike-covered hedgehog.
Although they kept calling it a “city,” its area was not large—it was more like the “base” Li Yishu mentioned.
But there was a problem.
Ji Ting: “In the novel, Liu Daming’s golden finger base doesn’t exist in reality.
It’s more like a weapons factory linked to the protagonist’s mind, collecting wasteland resources to produce weapons, equipment, and daily necessities.
This golden finger concept evolved from the once-popular ‘portable space farming’ trope.
Liu Daming can enter and build his base, produce needed materials through it, but it doesn’t manifest in reality—otherwise, why call it a portable space?”
Ji Ting glanced at the images, recalling related information from memory: “Besides, I remember Liu Daming’s base doesn’t look like this—at least, it shouldn’t be so tightly sealed like a hedgehog.”
Li Yishu: “To be precise, it didn’t look like this before your hiatus.”
“Tianshu” is a completed novel, but when it merged with reality, time didn’t stop at the story’s ending.
Between the novel’s conclusion and the fusion with reality, many things happened—it’s now several years later.”
Ji Ting realized the problem: “So, these novels might have evolved new plots on their own?”
He recalled the many unresolved plot holes in his writing and sensed a huge hidden crisis.
Li Yishu tapped the table with folded fingers, pulling Ji Ting back from his wandering thoughts: “Even if new plots develop independently, they must still build on established character settings and previous stories. The intelligence analysis team, combining the original novel and Liu Daming’s personality, judges that the likelihood of the plot going out of control is low. They recommend a cautious approach to make contact.”
“This is the second novel fused with reality. We need to extract more information from it to prepare for the next ‘special event.’”
“At least Liu Daming is easier to persuade than other protagonists, making him a good candidate for first contact.”
His choice of words was very diplomatic, implying Liu Daming’s intelligence was not very high.
When writing 《I Have a Base in the Apocalypse》, Ji Ting originally wanted to depict a loyal older brother figure but ended up writing a big, muscular, simple-minded guy due to his limited writing skills…
Ji Ting looked at the heavily armed city in the pictures but refrained from commenting on the intelligence team’s assessment.
“What’s the current situation in A City? With a city showing up, the number of Mutated Creatures should be even higher.”
Li Yishu swiped the tablet, showing Ji Ting the next batch of images.
An endless defensive network stood at the outskirts, fighter jets circled the sky, and tanks and other armed forces lined up in various formations behind the defenses.
Military personnel in uniform had set up a highly concealed strategic command post at the rear.
Opposite the defense network was parched, uneven ground, looking like it had been plowed repeatedly by intense artillery.
There was no trace of Mutated Creatures, nor even the once-thick wild grass.
Resistance.
Ji Ting had been narrow-minded—modern warfare in the information age meant that anything within artillery range was absolute truth.
Mutated Creatures roamed the wasteland freely because the government agencies had completely collapsed in the apocalypse, unable to organize effective resistance.
The fusion of the second novel with reality happened in the sparsely populated outskirts of A City, conveniently allowing the military to clear the area.
No matter how tough the Mutated Creatures’ defenses were, they couldn’t withstand the relentless firepower covering sky and land.
A sense of security quickly settled in. Ji Ting straightened up, speaking earnestly: “I’ll get ready to depart immediately.”
“I’ll bring the Tianshu Squad with you,” Li Yishu pressed the tablet off calmly.
“You can count on us to cover your back.”
***
~ Inside a coffee shop in A City ~
Wang Xiaoyun wiped the shiny table with uneven strokes, occasionally glancing out the window.
The streets were nearly empty, the silence unnervingly thick.
She turned on the TV, letting the incessant announcements drone on.
“Notice regarding recent abnormal situations in the outskirts: A City government has established a special task force to handle the situation. To ensure your safety and that of your family, please stay indoors unless necessary. If you need to leave the city for special reasons, contact the following number: XXXXXX…”
Wang Xiaoyun lowered the TV volume and started going through recent notices received by the coffee shop.
《XX Community Committee Contact List》, 《XX Community Notice on ‘Material Distribution’》, 《XX Street Personnel Verification Form》, 《Volunteer Registration Form》, and so on.
She placed the stack of notices in the most conspicuous spot on the counter to ensure the owner would see them immediately upon returning—though she wasn’t sure if the owner could even get back into the city right now.
But with the apocalypse approaching, no government precaution was excessive.
She felt more reassured than anxious about A City’s recent flurry of activity.
The first phase of the novel-reality fusion, “Cognitive Shift,” integrated novel settings with common knowledge, creating a strange trajectory.
Most A City residents obediently followed government directives, calmly accepting the “imminent apocalypse” reality.
Guided by the government, they actively prepared to “survive the end,” helping each other and entering a semi-lockdown.
Because people’s emotions remained stable and they cooperated with the government, a new order quickly took shape under emergency measures.
Most outdoor industries temporarily ceased, while some indoor work continued to maintain the city’s basic needs.
Technically, the coffee shop should have closed too, but Wang Xiaoyun hadn’t received notice.
After pondering, she decided to come to work anyway.
Most people stayed indoors.
Aside from grassroots workers and volunteers, patrols in military uniforms guarded the streets against potential Mutated Creature incursions.
The large military operation in the outskirts of A City couldn’t be hidden.
Social media overflowed with photos—everyone knew Mutated Creatures had appeared and the area was locked down for clearance.
If there was panic, it was felt in places tens of thousands of miles away from A City, while A City and nearby cities viewed it as normal—just the apocalypse.
“The ‘Cognitive Shift’ is expanding outward from the novel-reality fusion zone, leading to some ridiculous situations. Provinces like A Province and nearby ones remain calm, while Province X is in turmoil, causing quite a stir…”
Director Wang smiled: “In that sense, it’s hard to say if this ‘Cognitive Shift’ is good or bad. At least it helped stabilize A City’s situation so quickly.”
Ji Ting’s gaze fixed on the passing scenery outside the car window.
Military units marched in neat formations between camps.
Staggering arrays of electronic devices filled the tents, punctuated by heated debates and the constant whir of helicopter blades echoing across the land.
The outskirts no longer looked deserted—it had completely transformed into a wartime command post.
The vehicle drove into the center of the camp.
Ji Ting had barely gotten off and steadied himself when the others who had been waiting jumped on him, instantly adding at least twenty pounds of gear—
A pile of equipment armed him from head to toe.
“Life detectors, antidotes, small shield…” someone checked off items on a list and casually stuck a fingernail-sized patch behind Ji Ting’s ear.
“Oh, right, and the earpiece.”
Ji Ting touched the tiny object behind his ear—it was the size of a fingernail, thin as paper, stuck there with no discomfort.
Without close inspection, it was impossible to notice.
A prompt sounded: “Connected to communications channel ‘Tianshu.’ User: Young Dragon.”
“Hey, hey, hey, Ji Ting, can you hear me?”
“How many times has this place been plowed by artillery? I can smell gunpowder from this far away.”
“Charge, charge, charge! Let’s go kill some monsters~”
Before Ji Ting could identify who was speaking, the noise abruptly stopped. Another prompt: “Channel encrypted.”
Li Yishu tapped his ear and gestured to Ji Ting: “The earpiece connects directly to the intelligence analysis team. They’ll provide advice based on different situations. It should be pretty useful to you.”
The earpiece wasn’t quiet for long before others spoke again.
“Boss, why’d you encrypt the channel? I almost couldn’t get in.”
“But your password never changes—ten years without a reset. That could lead to a security breach. I suggest you change it ASAP.”
“Ji Ting, here’s a tip: if you find the intelligence team too annoying, tap twice to turn this thing off.”
“Canned Food, writing your own self-criticism is one thing—don’t drag the clueless newbies into it.”
“Don’t listen to him. For major missions like this, losing contact mid-operation means you have to file a report explaining why. When the intelligence team lectures you, just pretend you didn’t hear. Never turn off the earpiece.”
Li Yishu’s expression grew darker as the group bantered through the earpiece.
Out of camaraderie from training together the past few days, Ji Ting cleared his throat lightly.
“The intelligence team is always slow to react. When we’re on missions, it’s life or death—no time for hindsight analysis. Honestly, the key is to follow your instincts… Why are you still coughing? Are you coming down with something?”
Li Yishu’s voice came quietly: “Aiming Device, sounds like you have a lot of ‘great suggestions’ for the operations team?”
There was silence on the other side before Aiming Device sheepishly replied, “Boss, why are you still on the channel?”
Li Yishu’s face was expressionless: “Report to my office after the mission.”
The entire channel fell silent.
From the others’ introductions, Ji Ting learned the uses of his gear, which amazed him with its completeness.
He stared at the “shield” shaped like a wrist guard for a few seconds.
The description sounded like sci-fi—able to release a massive amount of energy at once to block normal attacks.
It was hard not to produce a string of question marks.
Had national military technology really advanced this far?
Li Yishu noticed Ji Ting’s lingering gaze: “That’s a product of the novel-reality fusion, from the setting of 《Tianshu》.”
He spoke as they walked toward the protective barrier.
“The abnormal zone was cleared once last night, and drones have just finished patrolling the area. Detectors confirm no new Mutated Creatures have appeared inside.
If we move quickly and get lucky, theoretically we can reach that city and communicate with its inhabitants.”
“No matter the outcome, we have to return as soon as possible.”
Li Yishu brushed dust off Ji Ting’s shoulder calmly: “That’s the conclusion drawn by the intelligence team after days of observation. The safe status inside the abnormal zone won’t last long.
The novel’s accelerated fusion will continuously bring ‘characters from the book’ into the abnormal zone. In other words, Mutated Creatures will soon reappear.”
Ji Ting processed the flood of information but his focus shifted: “The shield was mentioned in 《Tianshu》? I don’t remember that.”
Li Yishu: “Because it was only mentioned once—in a passerby dialogue added just to fill pages.
The novel focuses mainly on the protagonist group’s perspective, but the novel’s world is vast and complex.
Snippets mentioned or even unmentioned things are part of that world.
The shield is indeed high-tech.
The author lacked military and scientific knowledge, so it was purely made up.
But since the novel became reality, the ‘black tech’ has become part of the technology tree, and ‘science’ now operates.”
After Li Yishu completed palm and fingerprint verification, the three massive doors beneath the protective barrier slowly opened, revealing scorched land filled with the smell of smoke.
The wind blew, and the smell of blood became suddenly intense.
“Boss, we’re here! Get in the vehicle!”
With a roar, a sleek black vehicle screeched to a halt behind them.
“Canned Food” poked his head out from the driver’s seat, waving happily: “Right on time!”
Aiming Device, cleaning his sniper rifle, muttered the truth: “Blame Baozi for taking forever choosing equipment. How else did we waste so much time? We almost didn’t make it.”
The chubby Baozi retorted: “Like you guys didn’t get distracted! Who was the one clutching the electromagnetic shield refusing to leave?”
“Enough bickering,” the hacker tucked in the corner with a laptop cut in: “Didn’t you see the analysis team’s been pushing us? Let’s hurry up and get moving.”
The Tianshu Squad crammed into the multi-purpose vehicle, roaring off into the wasteland.